Nannies should not sign contracts unless firing for cause is clearly defined, that way a parent cannot make up any excuse at all for terminating your contract early, if you choose to allow it to be a term contract. My contract defines fire for cause as:

-committing a crime
-abusing the children
-persistent tardiness of more than 15 minutes
-persistent non performance of duties, which are also clearly defined and my employers cannot fire me (for cause)because I'm not performing a task I didn't agree to.

It also defines cause for my quitting without notice:
-fear of harm or retribution
-failure to remit payment
-persistent non compliance of the agreed upon terms
-persistent non performance of employer responsibilities (running payroll on time, responding to communication attempts, providing me with equipment/materials needed to perform my job, etc)

If I was "illegally" fired I would put my time and effort into finding a new job. Chances are the contract in question also states something about a 2 weeks notice which would be what you would be fighting for since no smart MB would put GUARANTEED employment until so and so. Lol all these nannies complaining about how they could sue SO easily. Well do it then or shut up about it.

Anonymous wrote:Which part don't you like? The fact that your illegally fired nanny can successfully sue you?

You can't respond to legitimate requests for factual information but you can bait other posters?

Yeah, I'm not going to respond to your posts anymore. Or I am, but I'm only going to say one thing every time:

Anonymous wrote:Which part don't you like? The fact that your illegally fired nanny can successfully sue you?

Just because you don't think there is a "cause" doesn't mean that your employers don't.

Which part don't you like? The fact that your illegally fired nanny can successfully sue you?

An illegal fire may be "minor" for you, but a fair court ordered settlement of many thousands of dollars would be a major benefit to most nannies.

The judge would most likely award the nanny her full wages due through the end of the term of the contract.

Remember that having been suddenly fired without cause, the nanny has plenty of time on her hands to get the free legal aid help that an unemployed nanny is most certainly qualified to receive.

Please stop talking about things you know nothing about.

Please source your claim that every nanny is automatically "at will", even when the contract stipulates a clear term of employment. All my research indicates that if any contract has both a term of employment AND at will, there is an unfortunate "conflict of provisions" and will simply be a more lengthy court battle.

The thing is, there are always cases where what OP is saying in true. And not just in the nannying world. However, they aren't common and to insinuate that they are is terribly misinformed.

Anonymous wrote:An illegal fire may be "minor" for you, but a fair court ordered settlement of many thousands of dollars would be a major benefit to most nannies.

The judge would most likely award the nanny her full wages due through the end of the term of the contract.

Remember that having been suddenly fired without cause, the nanny has plenty of time on her hands to get the free legal aid help that an unemployed nanny is most certainly qualified to receive.

Please cite your source(s) or stfu.

Do many of you nannies actually have end dates in your contract? I stopped nannying in 2009, but I can't recall one contract I signed that had an end date in it.

Also OP, you sound terribly unemployed. Fired without cause is such a subjective term. As several PPs have said, nannies are an at will employee which means they can be fired for anything. When I was a nanny, I could be fired for being 15 min late once. That's a cause. Trust me, most parents would be able to come up with a cause.

You also didn't address other PPs comments. If my nanny quits on me and her contract said that she was supposed to work for another 6 months, can I sue her?

An illegal fire may be "minor" for you, but a fair court ordered settlement of many thousands of dollars would be a major benefit to most nannies.

The judge would most likely award the nanny her full wages due through the end of the term of the contract.

Remember that having been suddenly fired without cause, the nanny has plenty of time on her hands to get the free legal aid help that an unemployed nanny is most certainly qualified to receive.

OP I don't know where you are getting your information but that isn't correct. A nanny is an hourly at will employee no matter what her contracts says or doesn't say about it. Employers and nannies can't write in terms that are counter to the employment regulations.

An employer can write in the contract that the nanny agrees to stay for two years but this isn't enforceable. The nanny doesn't owe the employer 1.5 years of pay if she quits after 6 months. An employer can also fire a nanny for any reason. They don't need cause because she is an at will employee. The term "cause" comes more into play for whether the nanny would receive any termination notification time outlined in the contract and whether she would be eligible for unemployment.

Another example would be minimum wage. An employer can write in the contract that the nanny accepts a rate below minimum wage. The nanny can sign it but the nanny is still owed a rate that is minimum wage and can later file for back pay. It doesn't matter that the contract said both parties agreed to lower than minimum wage.

Finally, I think many nannies don't realize that cause is a broad term and there is no need to prove cause beyond a reasonable doubt. Some nannies seem to think that if the employer doesn't have criminal court level evidence of her not performing her job that it is not cause. They don't need a time stamped, independently authenticated photo of you chatting on your phone at the park. Cause can be as a simple as insubordination, failure to communication, dereliction of duty, misappropriation of employer property resources and there is no requirement that nannies be given multiple chances. If you are late once this could be used for cause. You can't argue that you had a bunch of reasons why you were late or that you think you should get another chance or even that its not fair because your employer was late. Nope, you wee late is all that matters in terms of cause.

Yeah. OP, Legal Aid doesn't just take on any case for anyone who says they want them to. I have used them in the distant past and it was a lot of hoops to jump through before I could get assistance - and then they only agreed because my landlord was breaking some really major housing laws in the state. It just goes back to what was said in the other zillion threads: anyone can sue anyone for anything, the question is how far through the system will it get. In this case, not very far at all or there would be a lot more cases being seen; nannies quit and get dismissed every day!

You don't really think nannies and parents are refraining from lawsuits because they think they aren't allowed to sue, do you? Most of us just know what a hassle it is and wouldn't pursue legal action for something so minor.

The reverse is also true. Nannies can be sued successfully for any extra costs incurred by the parents as a result of the nanny's failure to honor an end date in a term contract or a notice date in an at will contract.

Unfortunately, free legal services are far less available than you think. In many programs, they are reserved for people in desperate situations who are seriously lacking in capacity to advocate for themselves. An articulate nanny who earned more than 40K per year before the dispute and wants to sue for a couple of thousand in lost wages is less likely to get free help than you think.

if they were fired without cause before the "end date" in the contract. If there is also an "at will" clause, a judge can determine which conflicting provision to uphold.

Parents can be held financially liable for the balance of the nanny's wages through the end of the contract.

Every state has free lawyer services available through legal aid.